Sysadmin/Migrate virtual machine

Importing an existing disk image into libvirt

Let's assume you already have a disk file and you want to add it to a pool. There doesn't seem to be a direct way to do this with virsh, but you can create a blank disk and then copy your image into it:

# virsh vol-create-as boot new.img 1G --format raw
# virsh vol-upload --pool boot new.img existing.img

Copying LVM volumes across machines

Create the new volume, format and mount it:

# virsh vol-create-as nvme-pool new-root 20G
# mkfs.ext4 -L new-root -O mmp,flex_bg,extent,uninit_bg,sparse_super /dev/nvme-pool/new-root
# tune2fs -c -1 -i 0 /dev/nvme-pool/new-root
# mkdir /new-root
# mount /dev/nvme-pool/new-root /new-root

Copy the contents of the remote filesystem (this can be done while the VM is online, but you might want to shutdown any running database to get a consistent snapshot):

# rsync -PHAXphax lightwave:/ /new-root/

Don't forget to unmount your new filesystem!

# umount /new-root
# rmdir /new-root

Importing a VM from existing disk files

# virt-install -v --accelerate --nographics --vcpus 2 --ram 1024 --os-type linux --os-variant=ubuntu20.04 --network bridge:br0 --disk vol=boot/NEWVM-boot.img,bus=virtio --disk vol=nvme-pool/NEWVM-root,bus=virtio --name NEWVM --import

The new VM will boot and probably fail to mount the root because the UUID changed. You can fix this by dropping into grub the usual way:

• virsh start --console NEWVM
• press ESC before the kernel starts
• press e to edit a menu entry
• modify the kernel command line (for example, root=/dev/vdb)
• hit ctrl-x to boot

After booting, remember to update your grub.cfg and test it:

# update-grub
# reboot

How to migrate a file-based guest to LVM (online method)

• First, take a copy of the kernel and initrd:

treehouse# scp VMNAME:/boot/{vmlinuz,initrd}-2.6.31-22-server /srv/vm/kernel/ubuntu/

• Then, create the logical volume and attach it to the running VM:

treehouse# virsh vol-create-as treehouse VMNAME-root 10G
treehouse# virsh attach-disk VMNAME /dev/treehouse/VMNAME-root vdc
treehouse# virsh console VMNAME

• From within the VM, format the new volume and move things over

VMNAME# mkfs.ext4 -L VMNAME-root -O flex_bg,extent,uninit_bg,sparse_super /dev/vdc
VMNAME# tune2fs -c -1 -i 0 /dev/vdc
VMNAME# mount /dev/vdc /mnt
VMNAME# rsync -PHAXphax --numeric-ids --delete / /mnt/
VMNAME# vim /mnt/etc/fstab
VMNAME# umount /mnt
VMNAME# ^D

• Then edit the VM configuration to make it boot without GRUB, using externally provided kernel and initrd:

treehouse# virsh edit VMNAME

 <os>
   <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-0.11'>hvm</type>
   <kernel>/srv/vm/kernel/ubuntu/vmlinuz-2.6.31-22-server</kernel>
   <initrd>/srv/vm/kernel/ubuntu/initrd.img-2.6.31-22-server</initrd>
   <cmdline>console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 vga=normal root=LABEL=VMNAME-root ro</cmdline>
   <boot dev='hd'/>
 </os>
 ...
 <devices>
   ...
   <disk type='block' device='disk'>
     <source dev='/dev/treehouse/VMNAME-root'/>
     <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/>
   </disk>
   ...
 </devices>

• Reboot

#treehouse virsh destroy VMNAME
#treehouse virsh start VMNAME --console

How to migrate a file-based guest to LVM (offline method)

This method works by taking down the virtual machine during the migration and mounting the partition inside the hard drive image. Mounting qcow2 files require a fancier method.

• Determine the offset of the root partition within the raw disk image:

fdisk -l -u vm.img

• Convert the start offset to bytes:

mount -o loop,offset=$((63 * 512)) vm.img /mnt/

• Then, create an LV and copy over everything as in the online case

virsh vol-create-as treehouse VMNAME-root 10G
virsh attach-disk rt /dev/treehouse/VMNAME-root vdc
mkfs.ext4 -L rt-root -O flex_bg,extent,uninit_bg,sparse_super /dev/treehouse/VMNAME-root
tune2fs -c -1 -i 0 /dev/treehouse/VMNAME-root
mkdir /mnt2/VMNAME-root
mount  /dev/treehouse/VMNAME-root  /mnt2/VMNAME-root/
rsync -HAXphax --numeric-ids --delete /mnt/VMNAME-root/ /mnt2/VMNAME-root/

How to migrate an LVM-based guest to another host

(untested procedure)

First, shutdown the VM, then do:

mount /dev/treehouse/beamrider-root /mnt
ssh housetree mount /dev/housetree/beamrider-root /mnt
rsync -PHAXphax --delete --numeric-ids /mnt/ housetree:/mnt/
rsync -a /etc/libvirt/qemu/beamrider.xml housetree:/etc/libvirt/qemu/
umount /mnt
ssh housetree umount /mnt

Then log to $OTHERHOST and create the domain in virsh.

Downtime can be reduced to just a few minutes by doing a first rsync iteration from within the VM while it's still running.

Make sure you pass all the fancy switches to rsync or you'll loose information on the copy.

Alternative to convert file based VM to block based LVM

Stop the VM

sudo virsh stop name_of_vm

Convert the qcow2 file to a raw file

sudo qemu-img convert "name_of_vm".qcow2 -O raw "name_of_vm".raw

Create the LVM - Make sure the "size_of_vm" is equal or greater than the size of your raw image

sudo virsh vol-create-as treehouse "name_of_vm" "size_of_vm"

Copy the raw image to the LVM

sudo dd if="name_of_vm".raw of=/dev/treehouse/"name_of_vm" bs=1M

Edit the VM configuration

sudo virsh edit "name_of_vm"

   <devices>
     ...
     <disk type='block' device='disk'>      <----- change disk type to block
       <source dev='/dev/treehouse/"name_of_vm"'/>      <------ note that the source is now dev= and not file=
       <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/>
     </disk>
     ...
   </devices>

Now start your VM and your all set